Ilya Russian is a chef and eco-activist who focuses on local products in his dishes, as well as promotes healthy nutrition and appreciates simplicity – the one who this year became the winner of the honorary nomination “Chef of the Volga Federal District region”. Interestingly, Ilya has been combining the work of a chef and a firefighter for many years.
Ilya’s passion for cooking appeared in early childhood, but his cooking career began only in 2015 – in the Nizhny Novgorod restaurant Mitrich – where he started from the position of a cold shop cook, advancing to the position of sous chef and chef. A little later, he continued his culinary career as a chef at Dodici Wine & Kitchen. The gastronomic professional experience of Russians also includes internships not only in the Russian capitals – Moscow and St. Petersburg – but also in Italy.
Currently, Ilya proudly holds the title of chef of the Red Wall restaurant, located next to the Zachatievskaya Tower of the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin, in the very center of the city, in a 1917 mansion. The four-storey historical building was restored within a year, preserving its authenticity. The walls have red brickwork, which has preserved the appearance from the last century and corresponds to the name of the institution itself (Red Wall from English “Red Wall”). The location of the restaurant offers fascinating views of the Kremlin and the Volga.
Red Wall positions itself not only as an author’s cuisine restaurant, but also as a wine boutique. Most of the presented wine is from the Tuscan winery of Nikita Mikhalkov and Konstantin Tuvykin – TENUTA DODICI.
New dishes are being born in the Nizhny Novgorod restaurant, intriguing in their simplicity. Together with the team, the eco-prospects of the restaurant business are being discussed here, as well as the possibility of reducing the transport footprint as much as possible using local seasonal products. Such an eco-active position of the Red Wall restaurant is due to its commitment to the zero waste philosophy, which is combined with the lifestyle of Ilya himself.
Zero waste – this is a model of conscious consumption aimed at minimizing production waste by refusing to buy excess, reducing resource consumption, reusing things, as well as recycling and composting waste.
Maintaining the national flavor is also an important part of the institution’s policy. In this regard, last year Red Wall prepared a special tasting menu “gastroset 800” as part of the festival “Yes, chef!” in honor of the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod.
Set 800 consisted entirely of local products, combining the styles of Russian national and European cuisines. Russian himself calls his culinary style “new Volga cuisine”, and the dishes presented in the set perfectly reflect his tendency to mix gastronomic handwriting.
Seasonal tomatoes with strawberries and tarragon
Eggplant steak with strachatella
Pike perch with celery root puree and Tom Yam sauce
Lavender mousse with black currant ice cream
Of Ilya’s recent victories, another creative set presented by him should also be noted – “Terra Incognita” in the Chef’s Table interactive restaurant-theater. The project is organized by The White Rabbit restaurant, which occupies the thirteenth line of the international rating of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Chef’s Table by White Rabbit focuses on healthy eating and simplicity of dishes. The institution is the first and only gastronomic theater in Russia.
The Terra Incognita set is eight dishes from Ilya Russians, each of which contains root vegetables. This set was an important step in the life of Russians, because he independently turned to the initiators of the project, successfully passed the qualifying stages and tasting in order to realize his dream and become a chef with a name.
Ilya got the idea of the set from childhood memories of summer in the village, the smells of the garden and the feeling of freedom from cycling. The name was also chosen for a reason: the emphasis in it is on local root crops growing in the ground (“Terra”), but opening from an unknown side (“Incognita”). The source of their origin is the own farm of the Red Wall restaurant, 60 km from Nizhny Novgorod.
The chef is sure that root vegetables are dominant in many dishes.
I was lucky, I was taught to cultivate the land and harvest as a child. That’s why I always emphasize the richness of plant foods. Tubers and roots are the main characters of my set, it’s very simple, it’s what the earth gives,” Ilya Russian says.
In one of the innings, the guests were offered a duet – jerusalem artichoke puree and foie gras, where the sweetness of Jerusalem artichoke complements the delicate taste of duck liver.
In other positions, no less amazing embodiments of root vegetables ingredients are presented in an innovative way for every taste:
Nizhny Novgorod sheep’s milk ricotta with cherries and dried tomatoes
Whole baked beetroot with dried duck and black garlic aioli
Potato gratin, porcini mushrooms and sour cream with horseradish
Pike perch with green peas and Tom Yam sauce
Aspic pie with turnips and melted milk ice cream
Glazed carrots with duck leg and Greek yogurt
Gooseberry-rhubarb sorbet
Ilya Russian is an example not only of the fact that it’s never too late to start going to your dream, but also of the virtuoso ability to discover familiar products from new unexpected sides.
Author of the article: Varvara Kartushina
